I READ in the newspapers that five pubs a week are closing. Also over the past few weeks I have been reading about under-age drinkers, their access to cheap booze and their disruptive and often violent behaviour due to excessive drink.

Well, I do not pretend to know the solution to both these issues, but my friend PAUL may offer an effective weapon to this dilemma.

Scotland is putting proposals to the Scottish Assembly. Why is it that challenging and radical ideas need to become law in Scotland before the rest of the UK?

But here nothing is being done. Yet we can do something,which is to introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol of say 50 pence. Let me explain.

Beer bottles now show a “units of alcohol” whereby one pint of beer at five per cent alcohol equates to 2.5 units. This would give a minimum price of £1.25 and would not affect the pub trade as they already sell above this price but would reduce the advantage the supermarkets have at present.

Supermarkets sell cheap booze as a “loss leader” to attract customers. Through a minimum price they will have to increase these prices depending on the alcohol content. As we all know raising the price of a commodity will reduce the demand. Of course some will cry foul what about the bloke who likes to stay in, watch TV and have a couple of cheap beers, who will be financially punished. Not necessarily so.

The supermarkets would have diminished sales, but they would now be making a healthy profit on these sales, which if they wished could be used to keep down the cost of other goods such as bread and vegetables. If this extra profit is circulated in this way then our friends weekly grocery bill may not be much changed and we might encourage him to occasionally pop down to his local as there is no longer a big difference in the price of a pint.

I do not see any hope our politicians will embrace this, though Scotland has considered it. An already unpopular government would fear becoming more unpopular. But for the sake of our youth and our great British pub we need to do something, let’s be radical.

What about my friend PAUL you may ask, well he is a figment of my imagination and stands for Price Alcohol per Unit Legislation which I encourage you to ask your MP about.

R WARD, Bostons, Great Harwood.